Black Employment and Unemployment in May 2012

The unemployment rate for Blacks was 13.6 percent last month. This is according to the latest report on the nations employment situation released Friday morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its monthly Employment Situation report. This rate was an increase from April, when unemployment in the Black community stood at 13.0 percent. For the nation as a whole, unemployment was 8.2 percent in the month of May; this was virtually unchanged from April when the national unemployment rate stood at 8.1 percent. Among whites, unemployment was 7.4 percent; among Latinos, unemployment was 11.0 percent. Comparable April 2012 figures were 7.4 percent and 10.3 percent respectively. Overall, total non-farm payroll employment increased by 69,000 jobs from last month.